


Seen In Passing

by methylviolet10b



Category: Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms, Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
Genre: Gen, Gen or Pre-Slash, Historical References, Prompt Fic, Watson's Woes July Writing Prompts 2017
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-11
Updated: 2017-07-11
Packaged: 2018-11-30 16:31:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11467377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/methylviolet10b/pseuds/methylviolet10b
Summary: Summary: On the way home from France, something catches Watson's eye.  Written for JWP #10.





	Seen In Passing

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: Well, the timeline is theoretically plausible, but really, the whole thing stretches credulity to the breaking-point. Written in a complete rush. And absolutely no beta. Written in a huge rush. Be very afraid. I know I am.
> 
> Author's Notes: Written for JWP 2017 #10: Do Not Take the First Cab, Nor the Second, But the Third. Close your eyes. Turn to your left and open them. Now incorporate the third item you looked at into today's work. I'm pretty sure you'll figure out what it was I saw, but I've noted it at the end of the story, just in case.

In the spring of ’87 I found myself in France, helping Holmes home from Lyon. My friend had suffered a near-complete collapse after straining himself to the limit in a case. He was a demanding patient, and I had little attention to spare from him. Somehow, however, the bright gleam of yellow amongst the art-seller’s other wares captured my attention. It was a small, simple painting, rough and almost crude in its execution in a way, but vibrant, too, and bursting with life. I stared, trying to decide if it was a work of an idiot or a genius.

“Hm.” Holmes noticed my distraction, and the direction my attention had gone. He raised one eyebrow at the subject.

“I like sunflowers,” I offered in my own defence.

My friend made no comment, and I quickly forgot about it, preoccupied with tending to a man who had little practice, and even less patience, with being a patient.

Forgot, that is, until much later, when Holmes presented me with a flat parcel. Inside the wrappings was another small painting. It was not the same one I’d seen; the subject of this painting was little more than sunflowers.

“It was hard to miss the name of the artist, the way he signs his canvasses,” was all Holmes answered to my astonished question of how he’d found it.

He tried to pass it off as a trifle, but I knew better. That Holmes noticed my interest in the painting, and observed the name of the artist, was perhaps not so remarkable a feat for him, even as ill as he was. But for him to remember, and go through the trouble of tracking down a similar work…  _That_ shone brighter than the yellow of the painted flowers, then and all the years that followed.

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted July 10, 2017.
> 
> Additional Author's Note: Yes, I saw a bunch of sunflowers. Sunflowers suggested Van Gogh, and the timing was almost possible, so...


End file.
